Farmington Thanksgiving Meet at Mint Meadows and Junior Meet at Horseshoe Farm
report by Beth Sutton
Thursday, November 26 a large group of spectators, friends and family gathered at Mint Meadows,Free Union Road, Charlottesville to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with a special blessing of the hounds. MFH Pat Butterfield, Joy Crompton and Liz King were on hand to announce the names of members being honored to receive FHC Belgian Blue colors. Tom Bishop handed them out to those present: Stacy and Lee Stinchfield, Jim Finn, Helen Hilliard and Elizabeth Uffelman (absent). Liz King gave out the hunt buttons, a special honor for juniors, to Bella Karr, Emma Freeauff and Sophie Henelius. Filling in this year for our usual clergy, Robert Ashcom read a prayerful verse blessing the FHC hounds. Following the ceremony, riders and walkers moved off to follow our hounds under sunny skies, thankful to enjoy these fields with a familiar backdrop of the Blue Ridge, courtesy of the generous hospitality of landowners JB and Mary Scott Birdsall. Cathy Summers was there keeping up on foot to photograph the day, along with Bob Haschart, Dorothy Chhuy, Martha Drum and many more! to see photos visit: CathySummers.com, FHC-Facebook Photos, BethSuttonPhotos
above l-r:Kate Johnson,Ken Chapman,Robert Ashcom,Stacy Stinchfield, Shannon Haffner, Pat Butterfield
(BSutton photo)
Saturday November 28 Rolf and Margaret Hueppi hosted the meet at their Horseshoe Farm, with a great turnout of Juniors and guests. The day proved almost uncomfortably warm as the weather was changing and clouds gathered for what would lead rain later in the day. A large enthusiastic field of riders were welcomed to the meet in front of the home of the Hueppis, then followed Huntsman Matthew Cook with an eager pack of Farmington hounds, assisted by Taryn Cowles and junior whippers in Emma Bittle and Isabella Karr. Bella and her pony earned special favor by finding and retrieving a radio dropped by one of the staff. Hounds worked hard across the Horseshoe and Locust Grove country, keeping within the boundaries of the Moormans and Rivanna Rivers. Road whips Brian Barquin, BJ Korol and Ken Chapman were on the move, helping keep up with hounds and keeping them safe. Following the hunt the Hueppis welcomed members, guests and neighboring landowners to their bank barn for a wonderful hunt breakfast. We thank the Hueppis so very much for their gracious hospitality and are grateful to the McMurdos, Ed, Nancy and Tom for allowing us to hunt their wonderful farms. Check the masters blog for full hunt details! see photos on the FHC facebook page, thanks to photographers Bob Haschart , Grenelle Delany, and Martha Drum for sharing their photos.
BSuttonPhoto
Above: Over a dozen enthusiastic juniors led the Farmington field and assisted staff for the Junior Meet at Horseshoe Farm on Saturday, November 28,2015. Among those pictured above are Isabella Karr, Sophie Henelius, Emma Freeauff who received their buttons on Thursday. Keepin up with with the action Taryn Cowles rode with Matthew and Emma Bittle was still out helping Deborah Wray, honorary whip, collect hounds at the end of the meet!
